Curriculum vitae

Personal details

Phone number: +358 414836992

                         +39 331 4487254

Email address: [email protected]

Current address

University of Helsinki, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Viikinkari 1, 00790 Helsinki (Finland).

Professional experience

• March 2023 – present day

MSCA fellow in Dr. Anne Vaten’s group, University of Helsinki (Finland).

Aim of the work: Unravelling high CO2-induced changes in stomatal development in Arabidopsis thaliana.

• February 2022 – March 2023

Postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Anne Vaten’s group, University of Helsinki (Finland).

Aim of the work: Analysis of developmental plasticity of stomatal lineage in fluctuating environmental conditions in Arabidopsis thaliana and Silver birch (Betula pendula). 

• December 2020 – January 2022

Research fellowship in Prof. Simona Masiero’s group, Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy).

Aim of the work: Characterization of NAC transcription factors involved in fruit development and senescence in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana.

• October 2018 - November 2018

Short stay in prof. J. Ordaz-Ortiz laboratory at LangeBIO department at CINVESTAV (Irapuato, Mexico).

Aim of the experience: quantification of ABA levels in siliques of Arabidopsis thaliana mutants with defective ripening.

• October 2017 - November 2020

PhD fellowship in Environmental Sciences in Prof. Simona Masiero’s group, Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy).

Aim of the work: Identification and characterization of genes involved in fruit ripening and tissue senescence in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana and Solanum lycopersicum.

Publications

• Massafra A and Forlani S, Periccioli L, Rotasperti L, Mizzotti C, Mariotti L, Tagliani A, Masiero M. (2024) NAC100 regulates silique growth during the initial phase of fruit development through the gibberellin biosynthetic pathway. Plant Sci. 352 (2025) 112344.
• Tadini L, Jeran N, Domingo G, Zambelli F, Masiero S, Calabritto A, Costantini E, Forlani S, Marsoni M, Briani F, Vannini C, Pesaresi P. (2023) Perturbation of protein homeostasis brings plastids at the crossroad between repair and dismantling. PLoS Genet 19(7).
• Rotasperti L, Tadini L, Chiara M, Crosatti C, Guerra D, Tagliani A, Forlani S, Ezquer I, Horner DS, Jahns P, Gajek K, García A, Savin R, Rossini L, Tondelli A, Janiak A and Pesaresi P. (2022) The barley mutant happy under the sun 1 (hus1): an additional contribution to pale green crops. Exp. Bot. 196, 104795.
• Forlani S, Mizzotti C and Masiero S. (2021) The NAC side of the fruit: tuning of fruit development and maturation. BMC Plant Biol 21(1):238.
• Forlani S and Cozzi C, Rosa S, Tadini L, Masiero M and Mizzotti C. (2020) HEBE, a novel positive regulator of senescence in Solanum lycopersicum. Sci Rep 10, 11021.
• Defez R, Valenti A, Andreozzi A, Romano S, Ciaramella M, Pesaresi P, Forlani S and Bianco C. (2019) New Insights into Structural and Functional Roles of Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and Gene Expression in Bacteria. Biomolecules 9(10):522.
• Forlani S, Masiero S and Mizzotti C. (2019) Fruit ripening: the role of hormones, cell wall modifications, and their relationship with pathogens. J Exp Bot 70(11):2993–3006.

Conferences attended

• Sara Forlani, Kaotar Elhazzime, Anne Vaten: “Control of stomatal plasticity in fluctuating environmental conditions”. International Conference of the German Society for Plant Sciences Botanik-Tagung, 15-19 September 2024, Halle/Saale, Germany. Poster presentation.
• Sara Forlani and Kaotar Elhazzime, Anne Vaten: “Control of stomatal plasticity in fluctuating environmental conditions”. Mendel Early Career Symposium, 25-26 May 2023, GMI, Vienna, Austria. Poster presentation.
• Sara Forlani, Annamaria Massafra, Chiara Mizzotti and Simona Masiero: “Identification of genes involved in fruit development and senescence”. Meeting of SBI working groups in cellular and molecular biology, biotechnology and differentiation, online 16-18 June 2021, oral communication.
• Sara Forlani, Annamaria Massafra, Simona Masiero, Chiara Mizzotti: “HEBE promotes leaf senescence in Solanum lycopersicum”. SOL International Online Meeting, 9-11 November 2020, poster presentation.
• Sara Forlani, Carolina Cozzi, Chiara Mizzotti, Lisa Ronchi and Simona Masiero: “Identification of genes involved in fruit growth and development”. Flower Development Workshop. 18-22 June 2019, Presqu'île de Giens, France, poster presentation.

   

  Grants and awards

  • MSCA post-doctoral fellowship (01/04/2023 – 31/03/25), University of Helsinki, Finland.
  • Flower Development Workshop: prize for “best poster presentation”, 18-22 June 2019.
  • Scholarship for the PhD in Environmental Sciences at Università degli Studi di Milano, October 2017.

Research interests

I’m interested in fundamental processes in plants that can find an agricultural and environmental application in response to rapidly changing climatic conditions, such as epidermal development and patterning in leaves, fruit maturation and senescence, biomass production.

Education information

• October 2017 - November 2020

PhD fellowship in Environmental Sciences in Prof. Simona Masiero’s group, Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy). The PhD thesis dissertation has been held on May 31^st, 2021.

Thesis title: “Investigating plant senescence: the role of NAC transcription factors in Solanum lycopersicum and Arabidopsis thaliana”.

• October 2015 - October 2017

Master’s degree in Molecular Biotechnologies and Bioinformatics, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan (Italy).

Thesis title: “Characterization of a novel dual-purpose barley variety”

Advisor: Prof. Paolo Pesaresi.

• October 2010 - October 2015

Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnologies, Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Milan (Italy).